Discovery Lives (Source: Space
Review)
NASA received last month more than two dozen proposals for the next
round of its Discovery program of low-cost planetary science missions.
Jason Callahan examines what we know about the various mission concepts
submitted and the implications for NASA's overall planetary science
program. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2722/1
to view the article. (3/30)

NASA Rearms in its Battle with Mission
Skeptics (Source: Space Review)
Last week NASA announced that it had selected an option for its
Asteroid Redirect Mission that involves collecting a boulder from an
asteroid and returning it to cislunar space. Jeff Foust reports on the
reasons why NASA selected that option and why skeptics of ARM in
general appear unlikely to be won over. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2721/1
to view the article. (3/30)

The Ides of Mars One (Source:
Space Review)
Mars One, the private venture planning one-way human missions to Mars,
has suffered from setbacks and bad publicity recently. Dwayne Day
describes how one aspect of the venture's plan, the development of a
reality TV show about the mission, would have been difficult to pull
off even without the recent problems. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2720/1
to view the article. (3/30)

India's Indigenous Satellite
Navigation System (Source: Space Review)
On Saturday, India launched the fourth in a series of navigation
satellites, bringing the nation closer to offering a regional
navigation system independent of GPS. Ajey Lele discusses India's
system and why the country, like a number of others, is deciding to
develop its own satellite navigation system. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2719/1
to view the article. (3/30)

Can SpaceX Really Cut the Cost of
Space Travel by 75%? (Source: Motley Fool)
SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell promised last week that if the Air Force
will allow the company to bid on its launch contracts, SpaceX will put
U.S. government satellites into space at a price much cheaper than ULA
charges. How much cheaper?

According to a transcript of the proceedings, Shotwell told Congress it
would cost "on the order of $80 million to $90 million" apiece to put a
Falcon 9 rocket in low Earth orbit, or "$150 million to $160 million"
to build and launch a Falcon Heavy (a Falcon 9 rocket with two
additional boosters). Averaged across both rocket types, she put the
cost at about $120 million. (3/30)

Bruno: Acquisition Regulations
Contribute to Current High ULA Costs (Source: Motley Fool)
Tory Bruno said ULA charges $164 million to build and launch a
single-core Atlas V 401, versus SpaceX quoting an $80 million to $90
million price tag for a single-core Falcon 9. But Bruno argued there
are good reasons for this -- and good reason to hope ULA can drive its
prices down in future years. For the time being, though, the truth
appears to be that ULA launches are not four times as expensive as
SpaceX's. They're only twice as expensive.

For one thing, Bruno said ULA's biggest rockets are bigger and more
capable than SpaceX's biggest rockets. Thus, they can do more -- lift
more satellites per launch, and lift some satellites that are too big
for SpaceX to get off the ground at all. At the upper end of the
capability scale, Bruno said ULA's rockets are worth the premium price
($350 million for a Delta Heavy) because they can do things SpaceX
cannot.

SpaceX says its new Falcon Heavy will close this gap. But Bruno pointed
out that his company is also working under a stricter regulatory
regimen ("FAR 15," referring to the "federal acquisition regulations")
than the FAR 12 regimen that governs contracts with SpaceX. He argued
that working under FAR 15 adds to ULA's costs, and said that if the
government will permit ULA to work under FAR 12, then the company's
costs will decline. (3/30)

NASA Moon Orbiter, Mars Rover Face
Budget Chopping Block (Source: Space.com)
Despite a forward-looking and overall healthy NASA planetary science
program budget, two on-duty spacecraft are now on the chopping block.
The government's current budget proposal for NASA just isn't enough to
cover everything, said James Green, head of NASA's Planetary Science
Division. Green noted that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the
veteran Red Planet robot, the Opportunity rover, are now zeroed out in
President Obama's NASA budget for fiscal year 2016. (3/27)

NASA Mercury Probe Trying to Survive
for Another Month (Source: Space.com)
A NASA Mercury probe isn't ready to finish its groundbreaking work at
the solar system's innermost planet just yet. Last week, NASA's
Messenger spacecraft executed the first of a series of engine burns
designed to lift the probe's orbit slightly and delay its inevitable
impact into Mercury's surface by up to a month. (3/29)

New NASA Partnerships with Industry
for Deep-Space Capabilities (Source: SpaceRef)
Building on the success of NASA’s partnerships with commercial industry
to date, NASA has selected 12 Next Space Technologies for Exploration
Partnerships (NextSTEP) to advance concept studies and technology
development projects in the areas of advanced propulsion, habitation
and small satellites.

Through these public-private partnerships, selected companies will
partner with NASA to develop the exploration capabilities necessary to
enable commercial endeavors in space and human exploration to
deep-space destinations such as the proving ground of space around the
moon, known as cis-lunar space, and Mars. Click here.
(3/30)

Is This Thing On? (Source:
Slate)
It’s been more than 50 years since astronomers carried out the first
systematic attempt to hunt for radio signals from civilizations beyond
our solar system—a quest known as the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence, or SETI. During that time, our telescopes have heard only
deafening silence—which has some scientists wondering if it’s time for
Earthlings to start the conversation.

Proponents of “Active SETI” believe that, instead of just passively
listening for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, we should be
actively reaching out to our galactic neighbors—that is, we should be
using our most powerful radio transmitters (like the giant
dish-telescope at Arecibo, in Puerto Rico) to send messages in the
direction of the nearest stars.

“In the past we’ve always assumed that any extraterrestrial
civilization with the capacity to detect us will automatically take the
initiative to make contact, sending us a powerful signal to let us know
they exist,” says Douglas Vakoch of the SETI Institute in Mountain
View, California, and a leading proponent of Active SETI. “But there
may be civilizations out there that refuse to reveal their existence
unless we make it clear that we want to make contact.” (3/30)

Chinese Scientists Mull Power Station
in Space (Source: Xinhua)
The battle to dispel smog, cut greenhouse gases and solve the energy
crisis is moving to space. Chinese scientists are mulling the
construction of a solar power station 36,000 kilometers above ground.
If realized, it will surpass the scale of the Apollo project and the
International Space Station, and be the largest-ever space project.

The power station would be a super spacecraft on a geosynchronous orbit
equipped with huge solar panels. The electricity generated would be
converted to microwaves or lasers and transmitted to a collector on
Earth. After devoting more than half a century to space technology
research, Wang Xiji, 93, is an advocate for the station: "An
economically viable space power station would be really huge, with the
total area of the solar panels reaching 5 to 6 square kilometers."
(3/30)

Russia to Consider Training First
Guatemalan Cosmonaut (Source: Space Daily)
Moscow will consider a request for a Guatemalan cosmonaut to be trained
in Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. "We have
received a request to consider whether a Guatemalan cosmonaut could be
sent to a training center in Russia. Of course, we will consider this
request," Lavrov said.

The request has been addressed to the Russian Federal Space Agency,
which will consider it alongside other countries participating in the
International Space Station project, Lavrov added. Guatemalan Carlos
Morales added that he hopes that the first Guatemalan cosmonaut will go
into space thanks to the Russian Cosmonaut Training Center. (3/30)

Boeing is Customer No. 1 For AGI’s
ComSpOC Service (Source: Space News)
The recently launched ABS-3A and Eutelsat 115 West B satellites are
making their way to geostationary orbit with support from AGI’s new
Commercial Space Operations Center, or ComSpOC, under a contract with
Boeing. The contract is the first for the ComSpoc, which tracks
satellite orbits and space debris using a network of optical and
radio-frequency sensors combined with proprietary software.

AGI is marketing the service as adjunct to the U.S. government’s Joint
Space Operations Center, a which supports the U.S. military and
provides warnings of potential orbital collisions to other satellite
operators. (3/30)

ESA Spaceplane Test Flight a Complete
Success (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
European Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV ) was launched on a
Vega rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on Feb. 11. The
spacecraft was then released into a suborbital trajectory, and flew
autonomously, reentering and splashing down into the Pacific Ocean
after 100 minutes. This crucial test for ESA has exceeded scientists’
expectations as IXV behaved flawlessly, responding to conditions so
precisely and promptly.

“The launch was a complete success, all parameters collected so far
confirm that the vehicle behaved well, as planned,” Stephane Dussy, IXV
Spacecraft Operations Manager and Avionics System Engineer, told
astrowatch.net. “We extracted the flight recorders from the vehicle and
the memory from the infrared camera. All these experimental data will
be analyzed in details in the coming months.” (3/30)